SONGWRITING 101 #2                           "Beautiful Day Down Paradise Way" and "The Beach!!!!"                                        ..read more

                                                                              This week Dani and I went to the San Carlos Institute to see a movie that was in the Key West Film Festival. Every time I go into the San Carlos, the memories come back of recording my first album's rhythm section there featuring Richard Crooks on drums and Bubba Lownotes on electric upright bass, and Sousaphone (tuba). Da ..read more

MANNING, Story Behind The Song and Lyrics  Manning is the story of a trucker from Alabama. who in this complicated day and age, gets cold feet with his bride-to-be. He hops in his his rig and seeks refuge in a truck stop/bus stop hundreds of miles away in Manning, South Carolina, which is where the song starts. The protagonist explains where he is and why he's here in the first verse, however, there is insecurity involved and there is an obvious struggle involved. He suggests more like an excuse, that the truck is broken down, but is it the truck, or the protagonist? It appears as ..read more

 The Big C Update: Not what we thought. On April 20 I posted an update here on my condition. We had gone up to Miami Beach and had a further scan. About two hours later we met with the surgeon. He had told us that there were no signs of cancer on my liver. They would still operate, just to make sure. As it turned out, what I thought he had been looking at was the scan taken two hours earlier, were actually scans taken at an earlier date. We found out later that the new scans reveled "At least three lesions" on my liver. This coming Monday I'll be under the knife to have them removed. D ..read more

  What follows here is something that I've kept under wraps for the last six months. I didn't want to say anything about it by design. I waited until this point where I have a solid, if not 100% idea, of what's happening. Thanks for your love,  interest, and concern! Back in late October I had something going on in my digestive system that just wasn't right. I went to see my primary physician, Dr.Wagstaff. He examined me and set me up for an MRI at Key West Urgent Care. When the results came back the outlook was not particularly encouraging. There was a growth on the end of my col ..read more

  Is Cayo Hueso Rain my best song? Well, I can't say there is a best song. Having said that, of the songs I've released, on my own personal standards, there is nothing less than an "A". Have I written anything less than an A? Of course! Many, many times more than the A's. However, these are discarded, often before completion and none have ever been recorded. We all have our own standards. This is mine. ? When I grew up, a lot of songs stimulated the gray matter, both musically and lyrically. Dylan brought the songs with meaning into the fold from folk music, followed by The Beatles, B ..read more

  In 2002 my mom died. She and my dad had been living in Cape Cod for twenty-five years and I was living with my then wife, and her three daughters in Miami Dade. Things were tight and candidly, we were living paycheck, to paycheck. I called the airlines but they wouldn't extend me a bereavement fare. One thing was certain: I wasn't going to miss my mom's funeral. I elected to take the Greyhound. It goes without saying, the trip was long and fascinating. It stopped often at bus stations and truck stops. One stop we made was a truck stop in Manning, South Carolina. It was your average t ..read more

PHIP, the organizer of MOTM, has announced they are pulling out of Key West in 2023. The Casa Marina will be doing major renovations in 2023 and initially, PHIP doesn't see the renovations completed in 2023 and have hesitations on it being ready for 2024. In their statement posted on their Facebook page on August 2nd regarding the changes being made at the Casa Marina: “...it is apparent that the planned changes to the grounds would make it physically impractical to hold Meeting of the Minds at the location in future years...” Then, regarding alternative Key West locations: “The Committee h ..read more

  Green Turtle Cay On paper, Green Turtle Cay is Key West's “Sister City” in the Bahamas. However, the reality is Green Turtle Cay is Key West's mother city. The first people to settle Key West and the rest of the Keys, came from Green Turtle Cay. This would have been in the early 1800's, beginning around 1810/1815, or so. Just for the record, before proceeding further, the Bahamian word "Cay", as in Green Turtle Cay, is the exact same word as "Key", which we use here. The pronunciation and meaning is identical. Both are pronounced "Key", only spelled differently. One of the cu ..read more

  Song Breakdown – Garrison Bight Garrison Bight was written on Gary Ek's houseboat early one morning. It was anchored right off the boatyard of Garrison Bight. For those unfamiliar, Garrison Bight is an inlet in Key West. It's perhaps best known for the “Fly Navy” building, which people see when arriving by car. It also has the Key West Yacht Club in one corner. The Key West Fishing Fleet in the middle at the eastern base of the Palm Ave. overpass, with Houseboat Row across the street and The Thai Island restaurant is found at the other end of the overpass. Then, there was the boatyar ..read more